Ketchikan:Suspicious package leads to arrests in Ketchikan marijuana grow - The Alaska Bureau of Alcohol & Drug Enforcement reported that Ketchikan SEACAD (Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs) was notified by the Craig Police Department Tuesday afternoon that they had identified a suspicious package at a local air carrier in Craig that had the strong odor of marijuana.

Investigation by the Craig Police Department revealed that Kenneth Werth Jr, age 45 of Ketchikan, had shipped the package to Robert Vickers, age 56 of Craig. Vickers consented to a search of the package and 1.8 ounces of marijuana were found inside.

Ketchikan SEACAD
located Werth's residence on Shoreline Drive and immediately observed a vehicle parked in front of the residence where two males were observed loading live marijuana plants from Werth's residence into a vehicle.

The vehicle was stopped near the intersection of Tongass and Jefferson by the Alaska State Troopers and the Ketchikan Police. The driver was identified as Thomas Allen, age 38 of Ketchikan. A search warrant was obtained for the vehicle and for the residence on Shoreline Drive. Seized from the vehicle were 10 live marijuana plants, grow lights and related grow equipment.- More...
Thursday AM - January 27, 2011

Ketchikan Ready Mix, the contractor working on the project to replace the launch ramps and launch ramp floats, is hoping to finish the dredging portion of the project this week so that work can resume on the launch ramp itself. Up until now the contractor has attempted to keep at least one side of the ramp available for limited use as much as possible but the project is reaching the point where that will not be possible. The contract calls for the project to be substantially complete no later than April 15. - More...
Thursday AM - January 27, 2011

Between Nov. 28, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2010, the lab had confirmed only six cases of influenza: four type A and two type B. However, in just the past three weeks the lab has reported 44 cases of influenza A (26 H3 seasonal flu and 18 H1N1) and seven cases of influenza B (another seasonal flu strain).

“The flu is definitely here,” Dr. Beth Funk, state epidemiologist, said. “This is developing as a much more typical flu year than last year. We’ve still got months of the flu season ahead of us, so if you haven’t been immunized against the flu, this would be a good week to get it done.”

Full immunity is not developed until approximately two weeks following immunization. - More...
Thursday AM - January 27, 2011

Alaska Science:Alaska’s all-time cold record turns 40 By NED ROZELL - At the northern fringe of the boreal forest, in a valley silent except for the occasional rumble of a truck on the Dalton Highway, an Alaska milestone came and went on January 23, 2011.

That date was the fortieth anniversary of Alaska’s all-time cold temperature of minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded by a weather observer at Prospect Creek Camp. The camp was there to house workers building the trans-Alaska pipeline; the weather observer worked for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, who collected the data for the National Weather Service.

The high temperature at Prospect Creek Camp on Jan. 23, 1971 was minus 64 degrees. The warmest air people in Allakaket felt the next day was minus 66 degrees. January 1971 was also the last time the temperature dipped to minus 60 degrees in Fairbanks (on the 18th), according to Rick Thoman, a weatherman with an archival memory who works at the Fairbanks office of the National Weather Service. He stressed that the temperature never reached 60 below during the January/February cold snap of 1989, remembered by some locals.

“You’ll get flack for this - ‘It was a million below in 1989!’ - but it’s true,” Thoman wrote in an email. The coldest official Fairbanks temperature during the 1989 cold snap was minus 51 on January 30. It was minus 63 in nearby North Pole that day. - More...
Thursday AM - January 27, 2011

Ketchikan: Local Student Selected for FRED Week in Washington DC - By virtue of its membership in a national telecommunications organization (OPASTCO) Ketchikan Public Utilities Telecommunications sponsors local students for participation in the Foundation for Rural Education and Development (FRED) program.

Although students throughout the nation apply to the program, only 12 primary and 3 alternate students are chosen to participate.

This week the the Foundation for Rural Education and Development program announced a Ketchikan High School student, Gates Failing, has been selected to participate in FRED's 2011 Leadership Through Learning Program.

A second Kethcikan High School student, Brendan Stanton, has been selected as an alternate.

Karl Amylon, General Manager of KPU, noted, "FRED's leadership program provides rural students the learning opportunity of a lifetime. We're very proud of Gates and Brendan for being selected. It is especially noteworthy that this is the second year in a row that Ketchikan students have been honored by program selection." - More...
Thursday AM - January 27, 2011

Sure, we would get a little concerned it the skies darkened when we were traveling on the water and we certainly looked askance at rising winds if we had a plane flight coming up but in general the weather just sort of happened and we dealt with it.

We used to always kind of chuckle when we saw TV news reports of hurricanes down south and all the folks running around nailing up plywood and stripping the grocery store shelves bare of necessities.

Sure, we had storms. We had occasional blizzards, random hurricanes, torrential downpours that would have drowned half the Lower 48. But there wasn’t much point in getting ready for them because we didn’t usually know what was coming.

That, of course, has changed in the information era where you can’t click on a computer or turn on the TV without getting a massive injection of “storm warning.”

And so it was the case a couple of weeks ago when Ketchikan residents prepared for the “storm of the century” to bury us in somewhere around three feet of snow. - More...
Monday PM - January 24, 2011

Open Letter: I want Johansen recalled By
Alisha Greenup - Dear Rep. Johansen, I am not with the “Republican Party Leadership.” I am a registered voter who did indeed vote for you under the assumption that you held a very important position for our community. Once elected, you changed all that. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 25, 2011

Will of the people? By
Charles Edwardson - Rep. Kyle Johansen is disappointed in us! He strongly disagrees with our efforts to "thwart the will of the people"! Johansen has been in Juneau too long if this is what he believes. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 25, 2011

Pool By
Jennifer Horne - I am curious who decided to wreck the Mike Smithers' pool? For 15 years I dedicated myself to being part of whatever was going on in that pool. My father, Gene Horne, was the aquatic director there for many years. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 25, 2011

Ketchikan By
Jerry Cegelske - I think that for most of us, our idea of Ketchikan is formed in many ways by the sights we see around us as we go about our daily routine. How many people have the scenery that we have as we drive into town from North or South Tongass? Compare that with Seattle or L.A., what a difference! Eagles are a daily sight. Then there are the killer whales that seem to have become more plentiful over the last few years. Think of the killer whale sightings that have been reported on the radio in years past. Reports would come in about the latest location. People would be pulled over along the highway and at pull outs, looking at the pods as they swam past. This summer I was surrounded by about 90-100 killer whales in 10-12 different pods while on my boat as they transited the waters east of town. The friends from out of town were impressed by them even though some of the pods were a half mile away. - More...
Monday PM - January 24, 2011

Re: Mike Smithers PoolBy
Dave Kiffer
- It is indeed an excellent time to discuss the future of the Mike Smithers Pool building.

Earlier this month, the Ketchikan Borough Assembly gave borough staff the go ahead to come up with options. Although there have been some suggestions about the building, there is no specific direction the boro is heading in, so we welcome input from the community. - More...
Monday PM - January 24, 2011

Old Pool By
David Erickson - I thought we voted for a new pool because there was a lot of problems with the old pool building that would cost to much to fix? if so why would anyone want to take over these problems? - More...
Monday PM - January 24, 2011

Re: Mike Smithers Pool By
Jamie Fitzgerald - I think that they should fix up the old Ketchikan pool building and make it into a bowling ally because Ketchikan doesn't have a bowling alley any more. The Ketchikan Special Olympics used the bowling alley a lot for one of our many sports. - More...
Monday PM - January 24, 2011

RE: Mike Smithers pool By
Paul Hovik - I agree with the idea of using the current Mike Smithers Pool Building for recreation, and that it should be a multi-purpose facility. I think the best configuration would be an indoor soccer facility - deck over the pool, put "hockey style" board and plexiglass in with rounded corners, and inset goals - just like an actual indoor soccer arena. The "pitch" would be artificial turf, and would include the area of the current main pool. - More...
Monday PM - January 24, 2011

Sarah who? By
Sam Osborne - If as Sarah Palin and apologists would have us believe, her public appearances and disseminations have made absolutely no contribution to a hostile climate in which violence beyond words may occur, everyone might be asking, Sarah who? - More...
Monday PM - January 24, 2011

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